


Ghost Story

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Adventure, Gen, Missing Scene, Urban Legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-02 14:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19200760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: Sometimes, the ghost stories are true. Those are the most interesting. If they don't get you killed.





	Ghost Story

**Author's Note:**

> For prompt fill #93: Mission. I filled it with Sagani doing the Lovers’ Light mission in Adi’s Stars Rewritten canon.

 

Sagani was not particularly happy on boats; she preferred solid earth under her boots. That went double for stormy weather. Give her the risk of trees falling on her head over capsizing any day. Yet here she was. Rowing out into the Grace of Ciamena during a storm. All to chase a ghost story. One that might actually be _true_ , from what she could tell, but that didn’t make the pounding rain any warmer or the salt spray sting any less. Still she’d promised Adi she could handle this while Adi saw to whatever trouble was brewing up in Stalwart.

_“Sounds like the Republics are lovely this time of year,” she joked. “Once you’ve seen one snow-covered landscape, you’ve seen ‘em all. The change of scenery will be nice, and I’ve never tried tracking ghosts before. Sounds fun.”  
_

_Adi had laughed and wished her luck before heading off to round up her chosen companions for this adventure._

Bet my good hunting knife she takes Heodan, _Sagani had thought to herself. Despite repeated claims of not being a fighter, the soft-spoken rogue sure seemed to enjoy traipsing after their illustrious leader on adventure after adventure that involved just that. And for all her worrying about him, Adi kept asking him along. Sagani was pretty sure she knew why._

She was pulled from her reverie as the boat shuddered into the trough between two waves, tossing her into the Ondrite priest next to her. The woman yelped and both started to lose their balance before a sailor hauled them upright.

“Sorry,” Sagani said ruefully, watching Revena rub the sore spot from their collision. “Not used to boats. Guess it’s a good thing I don’t have my fox with me, huh?” Itumaak would have been decidedly less gracious about being tossed practically in someone’s lap.

The priest chuckled. “Interesting a sight as a flying fox might be, _ac_ , I think it not being here is for the best.”

Sagani laughed as well, but before she had a chance to continue the banter, one of the sailors swore and pointed off the port side of the boat. “There!”

Sagani shifted past Revena to get a better look at the twin lights that hovered over the storm-tossed water. Even as she shielded her eyes from the rain, the faint sound of singing wove between the chaos of the storm.

“It is them!” another sailor cried, followed by a string of Vailian Sagani didn’t understand, though she did catch _‘Alessa’_ and _‘Pellanne’_ in there, so she had a good idea what he’d said. The rest of the crew all froze in their duties to stare at the dancing lights, some murmuring what sounded like prayers as they did.

The boat lurched, and Sagani’s grip on the side tightened til her knuckles went white. The sailors didn’t seem to notice--or if they did they didn’t care--their attention still claimed by the twin lights. As she peered through the rain and churning water, Sagani could almost believe the lights took the ethereal forms of two folk women. But even as she peered out, wondering how much that was influenced by tales of star-crossed lovers and the mob that chased them to their deaths, the boat gave an even harsher lurch and then capsized completely.

If being on a boat during a storm was bad, being in the water was even worse. The Grace was fierce, and the pummeling waves soon destroyed any lingering hope of knowing which direction was _up._ Sagani still _tried_ ; this would be a bullshit end to her hunt for Persoq, and Adi would feel guilty forever over letting her go.

She was really, _really_ glad she hadn’t brought Itumaak.

Struggling against the waves proved futile, especially not knowing which way to go, so Sagani finally relaxed. Just in time for her head to break the surface. She barely had time to gulp down a lungful of air before the roll of another wave sent her tumbling. And then another.

But when this one retreated, there was the sting of gritty sand against her palms, knees, face, and Sagani found herself on a beach of sorts. 

In a cave.

A _big_ cave.

She coughed and sputtered until she purged what salt water she’d  swallowed, and only then let herself sit back and take in the surroundings. Even as she did, another roll of the surf deposited Revena and a couple sailors--Gialo and Edden, if she recalled correctly--on the beach with her.

“Ondra’s tits,” Edden groused, spitting sea water and shooting a sheepish look at Revena. “I see why the duc wants that dealt with, it’s a bloody menace.”

The priest was busy wringing water out of her robes and seemed to have missed his abuse of her goddess’ name. “ _Ac,_ there are many who fall prey to the romanticism of seeing ghosts with their own eyes.”

Gialo pushed himself upright and finger-combed sand from his shaggy hair as he chipped in his two pands. “What’s romantic about being run off a fucking cliff to your deaths?”

“The star-crossed lovers part, I believe,” Revena replied tartly.

Sagani tuned out the rest of their semi-friendly bickering as she continued examining their surroundings. This cave was massive. The wreckage of whole warships and trade vessels peeked through the water’s surface or hung precariously between rocks along the walls. Squeezing water from her hair, she cautiously approached the closest such wreck. She wasn’t terribly surprised to see mostly-decayed remains dotting the shoreline near the beached hull. What did surprise her was the fact the remains had been stripped--there was no evidence of clothes, jewelry, weapons, anything.

“There’s someone living in here,” Sagani muttered, instinctively reaching for her bow. It was, of course, not there. She hadn’t counted on needing it to investigate a ghost story. Which meant it was safe back in her rented room with Itumaak, at least, rather than lost to the roaring surf.

She turned to inform the others of this development and discovered they had multiplied. The constantly rolling waves had dropped almost all the remaining crew on the beach as well. All coughing up sea water and growling various oaths and epithets as it sank in they weren’t dead. There were a few injuries Sagani could see as she approached; gashes from hitting the stone wall on the way in, colorful bruises, a couple with skin scraped raw like her from how they hit the sand.

Sagani set two fingers in her mouth and whistled loud and sharp, the echoes chasing toward the impossibly high cavern ceiling. The low rumble of chatter and complaining stopped abruptly and all eyes swung toward her in the dim light of phosphorescent fungus that pocked the walls in clumps. 

“First things we need to do are get wounds bound and start a fire,” she said. “I think there’s kith of some kind livin’ in here, so we’ll need to keep an eye out--’cause that means tunnels--until we can investigate.”

No one so much as protested or back-talked her plan. Some of the less banged-up sailors went to gather wood for a fire, some started ripping up shirts to bind wounds--salt water sting or no, it was better than letting them bleed--while keeping half an eye out for trouble. In short order, they had some semblance of a camp set up. With the brighter firelight, they could see the mouth of a small tunnel along one wall. Sagani wouldn’t have any trouble, of course, but some of the taller sailors, like Gialo, would have to duck.

“So, who’s coming with me to scout?” she asked, fashioning a better than decent torch from a spar of hull-wood.

The sailors all exchanged looks before Edden raised  hand. “Fuck it,” he said with a shrug. “I’ll go.”

Gialo and another uninjured sailor(whose name Sagani felt guilty for forgetting) quickly followed suit. As they prepared additional torches, there was a low, animalistic hiss from the direction of the tunnel.

Eyes glittered in the light of Sagani’s torch as she moved closer to investigate. The figure finally revealed was hunched, matted hair and beard hiding most of the face. He snarled and backed away from the light, only to run into the pair crouched behind him. All three watched with baleful, feral eyes as Sagani approached, finally turning and running when she waved the torch at them and hollered as she reached the mouth of the tunnel.

“Yeah, you’ll want to keep that fire going while we’re gone,” she called back to Revena and the others. “Maybe get a couple torches going, too.”

“Whaddya think they are?” Edden asked.

“Kith,” Sagani said slowly. That part had been obvious. “But from the look of ‘em, they’ve been down here their whole lives. Maybe descended from survivors?” She gestured toward the wrecked ships. Something dark and wet-shiny caught her eye where the trio had stood. Upon closer scrutiny, it proved to be a handful of blackberries. _Fresh_ blackberries. “There’s a way out.”

“What?” Gialo frowned.

“These berries.” She scooped them up to exhibit. “They’re fresh, need sunlight to grow, and don’t smell like salt. They’re from outside. Which means who- and whatever these ferals are, they have a way out of here that doesn’t involve ocean water. We just need to find it without gettin’ lost and we can get out of here, too.”

She felt a little guilty scrapping her original goal for this trip, but plans changed when you were shipwrecked. Getting to safety was more important, and maybe once they were out Revena could perform funeral rites from the cliffs overlooking what was undoubtedly Alessa and Pellanne’s watery grave.

Edden snorted. “ _Without gettin’ lost_ bein’ the tricky part, yeah?”

“The alternative is to stay here and either turn into or be eaten by _that_ ,” Sagani pointed out, gesturing after the ferals with her torch. “Which I’d rather avoid, personally.”

He gave a reluctant grunt of agreement, and the four of them started down the tunnel.

~~o~~

It proved relatively straight, and the first few offshoots dead-ended quickly, which saved a lot of time. Sagani made sure they marked their choice at the first serious branching very clearly. There was another decent-sized side passage not far past it, and when Sagani paused to mull over whether it was worth checking, Edden and the third sailor--Cirocco, she’d finally remembered--cocked their heads.

“Do you hear that?” Cirocco asked.

Even as she opened her mouth to reply, Sagani realized she could.

Singing. The same song they’d heard out on the Grace, in fact. Drifting faintly up the passage she’d been about to skip. “Wait here.”

The sailors all nodded, and Sagani ducked down the passage. It twisted a little but wasn’t a terribly long way before dead-ending in a small, eerily beautiful cave. Streaks of the glowing blue cave fungus ran along the walls, rock swirled with the glitter of mica, and in the back, so close as to be intermingled, lay the bones of two people. The haunting melody.was louder now, and she could see why; a pair of cean gŵla hovered over the remains, hands clasped as they sang their mournful song.

Sagani took in the sight, whistled softly, and slowly backed away, hoping these two would remain as calm as the one in the lighthouse had for Adi. They did, and she swiftly backtracked to the waiting sailors.

“Dead end?” Gialo asked, sounding unsurprised.

“Yeah, but I found ‘em,” Sagani said. “Alessa and Pellanne. Pretty sure it’s them, anyway. There’s a pair of  cean gŵla hanging over them singin’ the same song we heard out on the water. So who wants to go get Revena? She can do the burial rites that’re the whole reason we’s here.”

“I’ll go,” Cirocco volunteered.

Sagani nodded. “Don’t dawdle. Soon we can get outta here, the better.”

“Wasn’t plannin’ to,” he promised with a boyish smile, and took off.

~~o~~

True to his word,Cirocco returned shortly with Revena in tow--as well as the other surviving sailors. Some sported new injuries that looked suspiciously like claw and bite marks.

“Those... people fell upon us again,” Revena explained, lips curling at calling the cave dwellers _people_ as she brushed dark hair out of her eyes. “I believe they came to scavenge and were surprised to find living kith. We drove them off, but not easily, as you can see _, ac_? The beach was clearly no longer safe, and we were already preparing to follow your trail when young Cirocco appeared and said you had found the lovers we seek. So we all came, rather than risk some being attacked again.”

“Fine by me,” Sagani shrugged. It wouldn’t really make finding their way out any harder. “But before we get back to looking for the exit, let’s take care of these poor ladies, hmm?”

“Oh, _ac_.” Revena nodded, attempting to straighten her sodden robes. “Lead the way.”

Sagani showed her--and a few of the more curious (superstitious) sailors--to the cave. Revena murmured something in Vailian and began issuing instructions. A shallow grave was dug in the sandy grit of the cave floor, and the bones collected. As she helped with the latter, Sagani caught the faint glimmer of blue on skeletal hands. Closer inspection revealed rings, clearly meant as a set. One was silver, set with a single large round sapphire that fit snugly in the notch between the two smaller sapphires that decorated the copper band. The craftsmanship was amateurish but still beautiful; if only for the care that had clearly gone into their creation. She pocketed them, figuring they’d make good proof of completion for the duc, and returned to helping.  It wasn’t long before Alessa and Pellanne were interred together with solemnity and respect. Revena spoke the burial rites with the wailing of the cean gŵla rising and falling in the background, finally fading into silence as she finished the rites and the spirits disappeared.

They all stood there a moment longer, the silence almost as haunting as the song. Sagani finally turned and headed back up the tunnel, gesturing for the them to follow. They’d seen to the dead, time to worry about the living.

~~o~~

It took a few more hours of searching, a couple wrong turns, and at least one frayed temper, but they did find the opening the cave people must have used for raiding. It was more of a crack, really, and an uncomfortably tight squeeze for some, but it was a way out.

They found themselves on a rolling hill near sunset, and quickly made for the nearest house to figure out where the hel they were. The poor farmer, who didn’t know what to make of this group, explained they were two hours’ travel outside Barda before before graciously offering to let them spend the night in his barn, given the hour. They accepted, and Revena prayed a blessing over the household for such kindness.

Tired as she was, it took a while for Sagani to fall asleep. She was worried--and slightly guilty--about Itumaak, but finally convinced herself he’d be fine. And she had enough money to compensate the innkeeper for any damage a bored fox might cause to the room.

They made for Barda first thing in the morning, settled up, and went their separate ways. Sagani reunited with Itumaak and gave him several strips of jerky to apologize for her long absence, which seemed to mollify the fox. She cleaned up and put on fresh clothes before heading to meet the duc.

He was shocked and impressed by her tale, convinced by the rings she brought that the cean gŵla had been the unfortunate lovers. “I can never thank you enough for your help, or your Lady for sparing so able an adventurer.” He nodded to a servant, who produced a small pouch of coin, and picked up the rings to offer back. “Keep them as part of your reward, _ac_? I regret I cannot spare more, for your travails, but our town has hit hardships recently....”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Sagani assured him, looking at the rings as they rested on her palm. Something about the way they glinted made her think there was magic of some sort involved, but even if not, giving them to Adi would be _fun._ “I know someone who can use them.”


End file.
